Water proofing

[dottney]

I dunked my Aqua Sport this morning while flying with some of the guys in our club on a beautiful lake here in upstate NY (Canadice Lake). This is first time I've dunked it (very dumb move on my part -don't ask) and while things worked ok afterwards I became a bit concerned about the waterproofing. The receiver is wrapped in a plastic bag. But the motor, battery and ESC are not. I'm a bit concerned about protecting the ESC in particular but maintaining cooling to the ESC. If anyone has a scheme to protect an ESC while maintaining cooling air flow to it please pass it on.
Thanks,
Dave

[Ironsides]

Dave:

The motor will live - some folks break them in underwater. Just blow it dry and put a bit of oil on the bearings if it gets soaked.

No problem with the battery. In fact, you can do damage by sealing a battery - they need to vent - leave it buck naked.

I have my ESC in the finger of a surgical glove. The membrane is so thin that I think the heat will radiate. Hasn't shut down yet. If an ESC gets wet, some serious things can happen.

All of the above applies to FRESH water. Don't even think of flying off SALT water. Electronics are damaged in a very short time if exposed to salt water when an electric current is flowing.

David

[dottney]

David,
Thanks for the advice. I was mainly concerned about the ESC. The surgical glove finger sounds good.
Dave

[Never Enough]

I took the plunge....! in short... it was a blast and with a stock motor set up it still have enough power to go vertical....

It was waaaay crowed this evening on our local river ski boats, jet skis, etc., breezy (4-8 mph) and a fair wind chop going on... Prefect (or good enough for a guy "in need of a flying fix") I decided that I at least wanted to see it fly... (and as it seems the first on Ezone to fly it). It sat perfectly on the water (high and level), I tested the steering (poor) and realized "if you cant steer it in the water"... FLY IT..!

I hit the throttle and it was off in a flash and climbing out at near straight up. I had some problems with trim and it was hard for me to fly it sitting down in the boat.... After 4 or 5 mins of flight I decided to land it.... Again not a problem.... Umm except for the NO CONTROL IN THE WATER thing..... I had go use the boat to go retrieve it.

I will reset my transmitter to give myself more rudder throw (it was at 70% and now it at 120%) and see if that does it..... More later....

I ended up applying three coats of poly varnish from Home Depot and it seemed to do a good job of sealing them... The total added weight is 30 grams (40 grams for the float set up and a 10 gram saving from removing the wheels).

Mike

[Ironsides]

Mike:

Water rudders are needed on most float planes. In any sort of wind, the plane just weathervanes into wind.

As an example, the attached shows what I did for the SoarStar. The central rudder is just enough for loight breezes.

What plane are you flying?

David

[towlebooth]

Originally posted by Ironsides
I have my ESC in the finger of a surgical glove.

I've done a similar thing with a small balloon. Everything tends to dry out just fine overnight when I've dunked without "protection". I would hesitate to speed the process with a hairdryer due to worries about overheating the ESC.

Ironsides - sweet rudder on your soarstar. I've been amazed at how stable the SS is on the water when there is no wind, but as soon as it comes up it usually flips right over. I bet your rudder helps that a lot.

Chad